The Mystic Cave

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). With the reading of this chapter from my book, Talking to Trees , we close the sixth season of The Mystic Cave , even as the events described there opened up my spiritual path, leading me here. I hope you enjoy it.  And, by the way, next year, a new book is on the way. Communing with the Dead ... and Other Tales...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). The myth is that Henry VIII founded the Church of England because he wanted a divorce. The reality is that his second wife, Anne Boleyn, was using her influence with Henry to foment church reform in England, as on the Continent. That he thanked her by having her executed and marrying again is a story of 'bla...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). In inner city parks and in remote forest clearings people are gathering to remember their sacred connection to the Earth. Some call it "worship;" some call it "church." Sarah Lyon meets them there, to guide them to their soul's true home in the wild. More about Sarah: https://www.sarahlyo...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Even conventional religions have their growing edges. Far from centralized beliefs and practices, the spiritual explorer needs faith more than belief. Tami Buroker identifies as a Christian, but she can't bring herself formally to join her church. She prefers to remain open to a God who can be found ... ever...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Devin Lebrun's soul name, given him on a Vision Quest, is Wandering Warrior. That evokes a lot of fearsome energy, which he has. But his breath training over the years has opened a world of inner calm, soothing his soul and helping him to turn and face his fears, something he now shares with others through h...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Those of us who've followed a conventional spiritual path to get to where we are now need not be suspicious of those who've beaten their own path. We might even be a little envious. As my two grown sons, Rob and Ben, will attest, there is something thrilling, if also risky, about finding your own way. ...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). The spiritual path is a solitary journey of discovery. We find our way, not by following a map or listening to others, but by planting our feet, one step at a time, in front of us. Sometimes, to get started, we must separate ourselves from the conventional paths that have brought us this far. Those are the paths...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Divinity student Andrea Tsugawa was born in Peru, her ethnic lineage stretching from Japan to Spain, including Quechuan (Andean) roots. Her spiritual benefactors are Buddhist, Shintoist, Indigenous, and Catholic. How she ended up at the Vancouver School of Theology is a story in itself, involving a burned-out apa...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Spiritual director and educator, Sarah Donnelly, was a faithful Catholic whose God didn't keep his part of the bargain--to protect her from harm. In the throes of that disillusionment, Sarah had to rely on the faith of others until she could relearn what faith meant for her. What she came to realize was that...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). "What can we do, but pray?" I hear people say these days. As the world turns in on itself and old alliances give way to new threats, praying does seem to commend itself. But praying to whom, and for what? Can the gods alter the course of human affairs? Can they change the hearts of the heartless? Can th...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply).      When it comes to cherishing childhood memories, we all know that we can never go home again. But we can pay attention to what we grieve from the past and bring that forward into the "home" we're creating now. In this way, where we've been can inform where we're going, a message that...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). My book is out now, Talking to Trees: A Journey into Soul . It chronicles my exploration of the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion, where talking to trees, communing with the dead, and summoning our spirit guides is the new normal.  To give you a taste of the book, I am sharing with you the...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Six years ago, when I retired from my ministry and left the church, I began chronicling my exploration of the soulful terrain on the far side of conventional religion. It was an extraordinary landscape and my experiences there began fulfilling many of the unforgotten longings of my heart. I felt like I was coming...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). As we ponder and discern where Life is calling us, it is useful, and sometimes inspirational, to see how someone else has heard the call. Sandy Wiggins established himself as a business executive in the real estate world. It was creative work and it was lucrative and it provided opportunities to use property deve...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). We might have thought just a little more would make us happy. More money, more time, more things. But that's the problem. Like a cat chasing its tail, 'more' will never give us what we seek. As meditation teacher Billy Wynne explains, 'more' is an illusory concept. Only in accepting the e...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). The archetypal feminine can be many things--fierce, wily, nurturing, creative, and deeply rooted in the natural world. But Alanna Kaivalya regards two qualities in particular, intuition and emotion, at risk of being lost in the modern age, where women are expected to be strong and independent, like men. "The...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). It's not about working a dream, about unpacking its symbols and wresting from it its cryptic meaning. It's about allowing the dream to work you, which is a very different thing. Mary Marsden is a nature-based soul guide, a personal mentor, and a dream worker. She helps dreamers to reenter the world of t...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). One thing that keeps people from exploring their spiritual path is fear of the dark. Not just darkness itself, but what darkness hides--ghosts, demons, spirits. The mere thought of such entities drives nascent seekers away before they even get started. But it needn't be that way.  Jan Thompson, Jane Fleming,...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). We don't tend to think of the corporate world as 'soulful.' But some companies realize that paying attention to social and environmental values, and not just to the bottom line, is good for the workers, good for the world, and, as it turns out, good for business as well.  Sona Khosla is Chief Impac...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). How do we rekindle our love for the Earth? According to naturalist and eco-philosopher Lyanda Haupt, the smallest step does it. Her book, Rooted, is a compendium of such steps, from wandering barefoot in the woods to welcoming the mystery of animal "presence." The starting point is simply our curiosity...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). To be alone in the world is a terrible thing, unless of course it is by choice. Especially for men, the heart may long for deep connection while all our social posturing creates the opposite--distance. When men discover deep friendship with other men it is a gift to be savoured and, in this instance, shared.  Don...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Stories arrive on our TV screen daily, unbidden. We are momentarily entertained or diverted but rarely are we changed. The old stories, however, passed down from generation to generation, were meant to instruct us, to identify us with a tribe, and to change us. Natalie Pepin , a Metis artist and cultural educator...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Whatever Soul is, it's not tame. That's why we seek Soul in the wild places, where something locked away can be released and we can remember who we are and why we're here. That's also why we need an experienced guide to take us there, someone who knows the wild places of the human heart. Miche...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Positive karma makes the world a better place and lightens our load in both this life and the next. Negative karma harms the world and burdens us with destructive habits. Becoming conscious of the bad habits we accumulate is the first step toward making better choices, finding joy and liberation for ourselves, an...

Click here to send me a text message (include your contact info if you want a reply). Here's a seasonal offering of word and song that will warm your heart, whether it's Christmas you celebrate, the Winter Solstice, Festivus, or any of the many other culturally rich wintertime observances. As we turn inward at this time of year, we also turn back, longing for the comforts of a home that...